Hear Axl Rose Before Guns N’ Roses

A demo tape from an early-80s L.A.-based metal band called Rapidfire has been posted online, featuring the earliest known recordings of a young singer named Axl Rose.

The snippet above features a Rapidfire song called ‘Ready to Rumble,’ which was recorded on May 25, 1983. Former Rapidfire guitarist Kevin Lawrence posted the track to YouTube. It is purportedly Rose’s first studio recording, and while it’s readily identifiable as Axl, he’s singing in a range a bit lower than the signature howl he would later employ with Guns N’ Roses, sounding at times a little bit like Gregg Allman.

According to our friends at Brave Words, Rapidfire appeared at the legendary L.A. venue Gazzarri’s on the Sunset Strip three days later, on May 28, 1983. It was at that show that Rose was first seen by Slash, who was in the audience. The two would go on to play together in a band called Hollywood Rose, which morphed into Guns N’ Roses after replacing several members. Their 1987 debut album ‘Appetite for Destruction’ launched them to superstardom.

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